Oceanocide

Claire Nouvian

FEWER THAN 300 BOATS in the world are destroying the deep sea, the largest reservoir of biodiversity on Earth. They are wiping off the map deepwater coral reefs and sponge beds thousands of years old as they chase their lucrative quarry: a few highly priced fish, known to be extremely vulnerable to overfishing because they are long-lived, slow-growing and late at reproducing. Whereas small fish like anchovies and sardines live less than ten years, deepsea commercially important fish like orange roughies frequently live for more than 100 years, and can even reach the age of 160. Despite this huge difference, they are exploited at the same pace, leading to their very rapid worldwide depletion.

The entirety of the deep-sea catch, without exception, is sold to rich industrialized countries that certainly don’t need those fish. And deep-sea bottom trawling continues despite a scientific consensus that emphasizes how utterly unsustainable and destructive this fishing practice is. It is universally accepted that bottom trawling — or “bulldozing,” as it should be called — is the most destructive of all fishing methods. The gigantic nets irreversibly wipe out a common natural heritage of deep coral reefs which are up to 10,000 years old.

To read entire article, download as PDF file (124KB)

A lengthier version of this article ran in the spring 2010 issue of above magazine, online at p.148, “oceanocide.”.

Claire Nouvian is a journalist, producer, and film director for French & international TV. She gathered an unprecedented collection of photos of deep-sea creatures for her book and exhibition The Deep. She established Bloom Association, a non-profit for protection of the ocean. Nouvian seeks to create ties of affection between the public and the unknown deep-sea environment.

www.bloomassociation.org

return to Biodiversity contents